1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display controlling apparatus and a display controlling method with which it possible to make transitions on positions of displayed data.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, as digital devices such as PCs, HDD recorders, TVs, mobile phones, PDAs, and vehicle navigation systems have come into wide use, users have more and more opportunities to select data being displayed on a display screen.
In addition, because the capacity of storage media such as HDDs has become larger and broadband networks have become popular, the number of pieces of information and the types of information provided by the data displayed on a display screen as a selection target have also increased.
Due to these trends, methods for enabling users to select desired data on a display screen have become of greater importance. Search functions that have conventionally been used in PCs and the like are known as a method that enables the users to select desired data out of a large amount of data. By using such search functions, the users are able to efficiently find necessary information, if they have clear understanding as to what information they desire to find.
In the case where a large amount of data is the search targets, the data that a user is looking for can also be ambiguous in many situations. In those situations, it is difficult for the user to even define the conditions used for specifying the data. As a result, it is difficult for the user to efficiently search for the necessary data by using the search functions.
In contrast, there are also other methods by which the users are allowed to visually select necessary data while data is being displayed in a list view. When those methods are used, even if a user does not have clear understanding as to what data he/she desires to find, the user is able to specify the necessary data by directly checking each data. By making the process of checking each data easier, it is possible to allow the user to specify the necessary data efficiently. In other words, to enable the user to efficiently specify the necessary data out of a list-view display, what method is used for displaying the data is important.
Another background to be considered is that advanced presentation methods that employ 3D graphics, animations, and typography that can be used in display of data have become popular due to improvements in the performance of processors and the growing popularity of broadband networks. Improving the quality of user experience by applying these methods to operation screens and make the display richer is in demand. In particular, displays that employ 3D graphics and interactive animations in response to user's operations allow the changes in the screen display to be continuous in response to the user's operations. As a result, it is possible to cause the user to have the feeling of intuitive operations.
Examples of the display methods that employ 3D graphics and animations that have been proposed include “walk-through” and a displayed-object layout-changing animation.
“Walk-through” is a method for allowing the user to find data while the viewpoint is changed as if the viewer was walking around in a virtual three-dimensional space in which data is placed. In contrast, the displayed-object layout-changing animation is a method for allowing the user to find desired data while the layout of the displayed objects is changed according to the user's operations.
Of these methods, the displayed-object layout-changing animation method is more dynamic than “walk-through” in terms of the changes in what is being displayed and is thus able to achieve a higher level of visual effects. In addition, by combining a search function or a sorting function with calculations of the layout of the displayed objects, it is possible to select the data to be displayed. Thus, the user is able to find desired information efficiently.
An example of a method for displaying displayed objects is disclosed in International Publication No. WO 00/33572. This document discloses a method for sequentially enlarging a plurality of images in a time-series sequence so that the chronological relationship among the images can be expressed and displaying the enlarged images in a spiral in the time-series sequence starting from the inner circumference side.
However, to change the display in response to the user's operations, it is necessary to change the relationship between pieces of data in a dynamic manner according to the user's operations. Thus, the method described in International Publication No. WO 00/33572 is not able to address this need.